In March, the Guilford County Planning Department voted unanimously to approve the closure of Groundhog Trace running southeast from Raccoon Run to the ending cul-de-sac of Groundhog Trace.
But it’s the Guilford County Board of Commissioners who’ll get the final word after holding a public hearing due to the appeal from those who don’t want the road closed.
The board will hear the matter at its Thursday, Sept.15 meeting.
In March, an attorney representing the Beaver Hills Estates Homeowner’s Association submitted an appeal of the Planning Board’s March 9 decision.
There are four pieces of property served by the road – all owned by a husband and wife who’ve requested the closure. The owners acquired the properties in the cul-de-sac about a decade ago in order to create a bigger lot for themselves.
According to the minutes of the Planning Board meeting earlier this year, they say they “have dealt with break-in issues in the neighborhood for many years now ….They have had issues with people coming into the immediate area, trespassing and some lingering in the cul-de-sac or using that area to access hunting or riding ATVs on the adjoining property.”
An attorney representing the Beaver Hills Estates Homeowners Association and 29 of the 43 homeowners in the area submitted the appeal opposing the proposed closure of the portion of Groundhog Trace.
Some argue that the “closing of this publicly dedicated road is completely out of character from the single-family home subdivision” and it would remove a needed vehicular turn-around.
At the March meeting opponents to the closure argued that “Property owners, fire and emergency vehicles and others traveling through the neighborhood will be required to make a pull-up, back out into the Raccoon Run Drive of the other portion (western portion) of Groundhog Trace is inconsistent with the approved, recorded plat, further, it interferes with traffic and creates an unnecessary safety risk.”
The Homeowners Association has spent $20,000 in roadway improvements to bring the road to NC Department of Transportation standards and, some association members argue, the road closure applicants would be a beneficiary of those changes.
In fact, the association contends that it owns the road, not the couple applying for the closure.
At the Planning Department meeting, there were about 17 people in the audience who displayed opposition to the request and no doubt some of them will show up to the commissioners meeting this week as well.
